Battery container



March l0, 1931. E. LYNDON BATTERY CONTAINER Original Filed Jan. 21

vvwcm io z Edward Lynda:

Patented Mar. 10, 1931 UNITEDV STATES EDWARD LYNDON, OF WESTPORT, CONNEGTICUT BATTERY CONTAINER Reille forabandoncd application Serial No. 82,730, lcd January 21, 1926. This application iiled Hay 24,

' 1930. Serial No. 455,382.

My invention relates to electrical storage batteries and more particularly tothe containers therefor.

The batteries with which this invention is most concerned are the so called lead batteries i. e. batteries comprising elements made of lead oxide immersed in dilute sulphuric acid. The class of containers here considered is that comprising vessels made of acid non-resistin material, such as, for instance, wood, covere with a protective acid-resistin coating.

Stora e battery containers o wood coated with a` ayer of acid-resistin material, -as new made, have not proven to satisfactory in practice. One' o f the reasons for their failure is that the protective coating does not adhere uniformly to the material to which it is applied and the slightest crack or fissure in the coating will permit the acid to attack 2o the wood.

In the practice of m invention, I make the container of a permea le material. I prefer to use wood pulp, pressed into a form suitable for my purposes. To prevent the action of the acid on the container, I do not merely cover its walls with a protective iilm, as has been done heretofore, but I cause the acidresisting substance to penetrate below the surface of the wood or other acid non-resisting 3o material. When the acid non-resisting material is easily permeable asin the case of wood pulp, I- obtain the desired penetration by dipping this material in a bath of the protective substance, or in any other manner requiring no force. But when the material is not readily penetrable, I use pressure to force the protective substance into the acid non-r resisting material, as, for instance, by means l of a vacuum pump. I thereby not only obtain a more uniform coating, but I also eiecta continuous and closer adherence of the protective coating to the walls of the container. It is as if the coating were imbedded in the container walls by means of innumerable, minute anchors formed by the penetrating particles of the protective substance. The penetration need not be very deep. In practice, one must be guided by commercial considerations, the cost of the protective coating 50 increasing with the amount of the substance used in each case, and the amount, naturally,

' Vulcolac Ais not acid-proof when in a plastic state, it acquires all of the properties of hard rubber, i.'e. resistance to the acid of a battery and to the gases developed therein during charge or discharge, after it sets and hardens.

It will be seen, therefore, that in the practice of my invention the permeable material is impregnated with pre-vulcanized rubber, whereby the invention is distinguished from containers of similar material impregnated with vulcanizable rubber and vulcanized after impregnation. Nor do I limit myself to containers for use in storage batteries since, ohviously, the same process may be ap lied to any receptacle, no matter what its orm or uses may be.

It is usual to provide battery jars with supporting bridges on which the batter plates are made to rest. In the practice o my invention, the jars of acid-resisting material being eliminated, the battery plates are introduced directly into the container.- Accordingly, the supporting bridges must be placed in the container itself. I make the supporting bridges, preferably, integral with the container. When I use pressed wood pulp for the material, the container is formed complete with the supporting bridges pressed out in a single piece. As a rule, the, container comprises a multiplicity of cells. The multiple container is also formed complete with partitions and bridges in a single piece of pressed Wood pulp, to accord with my invention. Sometimes, especially when the cells are large, I may strengthen the conaainer 95 with reinforcing bands of metal or other suitable material, preferably incorporated in the Wood pulp. yThis manner of reinforcement is so well' known and understood that I have deemed it unnecessary to show it in the draw- 100 ing, but it should be noted that reinforcements of the container in the manner indicated or in an manner lmown in the art form a natural mo ication of my 1nvent10n.

y because, also, any undue expansion or contraction of the material caused by hygroscopic changes is eliminated thereby. The effect of expansion or contraction due to variation in temperature is negligible because the coefficients of heat expansion of wood pulp and of protective substances such as I use are both of a very low order.

The present application is a substitution of my application Ser. No. 82,730, which has been abandoned.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l is a vertical cross section through one form of my container. Figure 2 and Figure 3 are details thereof, also in cross section. Figure 4 is a vertical cross section of my container along the line 4--4 of Figure 1. Figure 5 is a vertical cross section'through another form of my container.

In thesey drawings, 1 is the container of acid non-resisting material; 2 is an acid-resisting coating; 3 is a supporting bridge for the battery plates; 4 and 5 are, respectively, negative and positive battery plates 6 is the usual connecting stra and 7 is the terminal post, one being provi ed for each strap. Between the positive and the negative plates is jthe usual separator 9. h In the detail Figure 3, also in Figure 2, 10 is the acid-resisting coating penetrating below the surface ofthe acid non-resisting materials of the container. In Figure 5, in addition to the above 'enumerated elements, 8 is a protective strip on the inner wall of the container, shown here as an integral part thereof.

I claim:

1 A container made of `permeable acid nonfresisting material impregnated with prevulcanized rubber.

/ 2. A container made of pressed wood pulp impregnated with prevulcanized rubber.

3. A container made of permeable acid non-resisting material covered with a substance comprising prevulcanized rubber and penetrating below the surface of said acid ,non-resisting. material. u

4. A container made of pressed wood pulp Y covered with a substance comprising' prevulcanized rubber and penetrating below the surface of said wood pulp.

5. A container made of porous, fibrous, acid non-resisting material impregnated with prevulcanized rubber.

-6. A container made of porous, fibrous, acid non-resisting material covered with a.

substance comprising prevulcanizedl rubber and penetrating below the surface of said acid non-resisting material.

7. The combination with a battery container made of a porous, fibrous, acid nonresisting material, of a projection on an inner wall thereof, said container, including said projection, being covered with a substance comprisin prevulcanized rubber and penetrating be ow the surface ofsaid acid nonresisting material.

signature.

EDWARD LYNDON.

llO 

